Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister talked about the additional supports that were put in place on the back of the cuts announced in the budget. A response to a parliamentary question I tabled stated that there is a range of supports available to promote and support the well-being of students. It stated that National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, psychologists are available to offer their advice and support to schools in establishing and developing school support teams. The problem with that, however, is that the service does not have the personnel or resources to implement the guidelines. Well-being guidelines for post-primary and, more recently, for primary schools have been produced by the Department, in conjunction with the Department of Health and the Health Service Executive, HSE. According to the Department, the guidelines are informed by consultation with key education and health partners and by the findings of current research. However, we do not have a full allocation of NEPS psychologists because some of them are out on maternity leave or sick leave. The Department suggests the use of NEPS psychologists to promote well-being within the schools as one of the supports being put in place, but at the same time schools are complaining that they cannot get access to NEPS psychologists to do the job they are employed to do, which is to assess students with special educational needs. There is a contradiction in what the Minister and the Department are saying, and that must be addressed.

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